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Intercultural Learning & Development

Facilitated by Beth West, Director

Patricia A. Tietjen, MD Teaching Academy

beth.west@nuvancehealth.org

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Objectives

Identify key concepts in intercultural learning
Demonstrate increasing cultural awareness through self-reflection
Construct new awareness of yours’ and others’ cultural identities and values

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JOLT OF REALITY!

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Culture

“Culture is a learned set of shared interpretations about beliefs, values, norms, and social practices, which affect the behaviors of a relatively large group of people ”

Lustig & Koester (2006)

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Intercultural Competence

The ability to communicate and act appropriately, effectively, and authentically across cultural differences.

Harvey (2021)

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Or, for the visual learners

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Intercultural Learning and Development:�Why do it?

Edward T. Hall (1994) & the foundational aim of crossing

cultures: “Bridging the cultural gap”

“Not understanding [the Navajo] drove me to look at my

own culture, my own assumptions, those beliefs that are out

of awareness.”

“It is the out-of-awareness, tacit differences among us,

which lie at the heart of the tremendous misunderstandings

that plague our species.”

“When cultures meet and start interacting with each other, even well-chosen words may not be enough to bridge the cultural gap.”

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Source: https://idiinventory.com/products/the-intercultural-development-continuum-idc/. Copyright (2017) by IDI, LLC..

Intercultural Development Continuum

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A little about me...

BETH ANNE WEST

What do(es) your name(s) say about you?
Who named you?
Why are you named what you are named?
What does it mean to you?
What does your name signal to other people?

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How do you know what is

“normal”?

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“What is normal is a matter of values.”

-Geert Hofstede

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Intro to Intercultural Theory:

Hofstede’s

Cultural General

Dimensions

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Cultural Values = shared ideas about what is…

Right or Wrong

Fair or Unfair

Important or Unimportant

Good or Bad

Normal or Abnormal

Values tend to elicit strong, unconscious emotions.

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Cultural Value Patterns: A Bell Curve

Individualism

Collectivism

Culture A

Culture B

We are now going to examine cultural values as patterns. Interculturalists, such as Geert Hofstede and Edward T. Hall, have identified a number cultural value patterns, also sometimes referred to as cultural dimensions. Basically, these are continuums of opposing values that underlie all cultures. In any culture, individuals can likely be found at each extreme, but the majority tend to clump in one area, forming a bell curve.

In the example here, you see the cultural value pattern, or culture-general dimension, known as individualism/collectivism. We’ll talk more about individualism and collectivism in a minute. As you can see, the majority of people in Culture A tend to fall toward the individualist end of the spectrum; however, there are people in Culture A who fall all along the spectrum. In Culture B, the majority of people tend to be more toward the collectivist end of the spectrum; again, however, there are people in Culture B who fall all along the spectrum.

Therefore, while we can say that people in Culture A tend to be more individualistic than people in Culture B, we would never want to go into an interaction with someone from Culture B assuming that he or she is highly collectivistic. On the other hand, if we were someone from Culture A interacting with someone from Culture B and that person did something perplexing, we might want to ask ourselves whether the misunderstanding could be better understood by considering the more collectivist tendencies of Culture B. In other words, as Hofstede himself has emphasized, one should never assume you can predict an individual’s preferences based on these cultural patterns/dimensions, but they can serve to help us better understand the world around us.

Note that people who tend to fall outside the majority tendency in their culture (i.e. the people in Culture A who fall toward the collectivist end of the spectra) are sometimes referred to as “outliers.” What do you think might influence someone to be an “outlier”? [Perhaps point out that people who interact regularly with people from other cultures are more likely to fall outside the cultural “norm” and thus be “outliers.”]

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Culture-General Dimensions

Describe patterns that underlie all cultures

Help understand cultural differences

Remember:

Dimensions are interrelated
Individual variance within a culture; dimensions are not deterministic/prescriptive

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A Note about National Cultural Values

“Because values are acquired in childhood, national cultures are remarkably stable over time; national values change in a matter of generations.

What we see changing around us, in response to changing circumstances, are practices: symbols, heroes and rituals, leaving the underlying values untouched.

This is why differences between countries often have such a remarkable historical continuity.”

– Geert Hofstede (http://www.geerthofstede.nl/culture.aspx)

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Individualism vs. Collectivism

Individualism: People tend to be concerned primarily with self and close family. The needs and desires of the individual are more important in decision making.

Collectivism: People tend to be primarily concerned with family and other groups to which they belong. The needs and desires of the individual are less important in decision-making.

(Related values: love, freedom, loyalty)

Sometimes seems “irresponsible” or “selfish” to people with a collectivist view.

Sometimes seems “oppressive” or “conformist” to people with an individualist view.

Hofstede defines this dimension as “the degree to which individuals are supposed to look after themselves or remain integrated into groups.”

On one end of the spectrum is Individualism, which is defined as a preference for a loosely-knit social framework in which individuals are expected to take care of themselves and their immediate families only. Its opposite, Collectivism, represents a preference for a tightly-knit framework in society in which individuals can expect their relatives or members of a particular in-group to look after them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. A society's position on this dimension is reflected in whether people’s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “we.”

Depending where you fall along this continuum, if you were to talk with someone whose cultural background placed them toward the opposite end, you might find that you have very different ideas about what the word “love” means, or how to show “loyalty.”

Individualism is highest in the U.S., Canada, and Hungary. Collectivism is highest in Indonesia, Guatemala, and Columbia.

For example, a U.S. American high school student encouraged her Somali-American friend to apply to a prestigious college in another state. She refused, explaining that even though she planned to go to college, she would still live at home, as she took care of her younger siblings while her mother worked in the evenings. The friend found this sadly limiting to her freedom, while the girl saw her friend’s stress about “getting in somewhere good” as unfortunate, thinking that it was too bad she couldn’t just stay happily with her family, and was sorry that that her friend would have to miss out on her younger siblings growing up when she moved so far away.

[Ask if they have any examples of how they’ve seen individualism or collectivism play out in the cultures in which they live and work.]

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Communication and Context

High-Context: Indirect, nonlinear communication style. People expect to infer meaning from nonverbal cues and layers of implied meaning. The listener figures out the point. Everyone’s “face” is involved.

Low-Context: Efficient, direct communication style. People tend to ask questions and probe logical flaws. The speaker makes the point and only his or her “face” is at stake. Facts are more important than feelings.

(Related values: honesty, face, truth)

Sometimes seems “pointless,” “confusing,” or even “duplicitous” to people with a low-context view.

Sometimes seems “aggressive,” “simplistic,” or even “childish” to people with a high-context view.

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Concept of Time

Monochronic: People in this group tend to see time as a limited commodity; deadlines and schedules are sacred and people live by an external clock.

Polychronic: People tend to see time as flexible and situational and changed to meet the needs of people; schedules are easily changed, plans are fluid, and people live by an internal clock.

Sometimes seems “stressful” or “uptight” for people with a more polychronic view.

Sometimes seems “inefficient” or “rude” (with regard to promptness) to people with a more monochronic view.

(Related values: efficiency, productivity, fun)

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Power distance

Sometimes seems

(Related values:

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Short term vs long term orientation

Sometimes seems

(Related values:

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A Warning/Reminder…

Cultural dimensions should not be used as predictive labels.

What they offer is a framework for understanding culture – a starting point for observation and dialogue.

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Closing thoughts...

"To be effective in another culture, people must be interested in other cultures, be sensitive enough to notice cultural differences, and then also be willing to modify their behavior..." (Bhawuk & Brislin, 1992)

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Sources:

Geert Hofstede’s website:

http://geert-hofstede.com/dimensions.html

Culture’s Consequences, by Geert Hofstede (2001)

World Values Survey: http://www.worldvaluessurvey.com/

Understanding Intercultural Communication, by StellaTing-Toomey and Leeva Chung (2005)